John Stanley’s “I Was a TV Horror Host”

Though it has been more than twenty years since the show went off the air, John Stanley’s “Creature Features” is still remembered fondly by many people in the Bay Area. Stanley, a writer for the Chronicle, hosted horror films on KTVU between January, 1979 through August, 1984, and now he has an enjoyable new memoir about the experience, “I Was a TV Horror Host.”

The lavishly illustrated trade paperback mixes details of the horror-host experience with Stanley’s interviews and recollections of horror and sci-fi honchos.

The show was before my time here, but it must have been cut to last four years into the home video era. In the old days, the — the pre-DVD and VHS days — late night TV was the only way to see a horror movie at home, and the horror host performed an odd dual function. The horror host was there partly to amuse and nurse you through the experience and partly to scare you, or at least to maintain the eerie atmosphere.

In the world of horror hosts, Stanley was a plain-clothes man. No fangs, no dripping blood, no capes, no alter ego. But he booked a lot of celebrity guests and is still asked to make appearances at horror conventions. You can find his book on amazon.